Animal-shears



E. D. & J. D. BENSON.

(Model.)

ANIMAL SHEARS.

Patented Nov.

WJTJVESSES 7 vllnrrnn STATES PATENT Arezan zo. BENSON AND JAMES D.. nENSoN, or CRANBERRY, wnsr vIRGINiA.

SPECIFICATION forming pm of Letters Patent No287,794, dated November c, 188e. l Application filed June 2S, 1853. (Model.) f

' To-aZZ whom t mayl concern:

'ANl'MAL--sl-IEARS.

Be it known that we,EZRA D. BENSON and "JAMEs vD.` BENSON, citizens of the United States, residing atl Cranberry, in the county yof Preston and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Animal-Shears, of

which the following is ay specification, `refer- 'p ence being had to the accompanying drawings.

. forth, and

This invention relates to animalshears; and

it has for its object to provide means whereby w the shearing of sheep, especially, may be accomplished with ease and rapidity without injuring the animal in any Way. l

To attain the aforesaid obj ect, our invention consists in certain details of constructionl and combination of parts, as hereinafter fully set vparticularly pointed out in the claim. y V.

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of our improved shearing-machine.

v Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the cutting-instrument.v 'tion of the same.'

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sec- Like letters refer to corresponding parts in all. the ligures.

Referring to the drawings, A designates a suitably-supported standard carrying a driving-wheel, B, which is driven by any suitable y'power. The standard incloses a shaft, C, hav- 5' 3. l motion to the shaft C. It will be obvious that va pitman may connect the wheels B and d an 'eserve the necessary functions. w

ying at its lower end a bevel-wheel, c, which meshes 'with a similar bevel-wheel, d, supported at the lowerend of the standard. A belt, D, `connects the driving-wheel with a pulley, e, on the end of ywheel d, thereby imparting motion to the same, which transmits 1 To the shaft C a flexible shaft, F, is attached. Said flexible shaft may be constructed in any suitable manner, and for this reason wedo not show any special construction. The other end -of the flexible shaft is attached to arod, G,

' passing through the handle onhand-piece H of our improved shearing device. Said hanfreely works, the outer end of said tube being extended, as at t'. The outer end ofthe handle has. a ferrule, h, secured thereon, and over -said ferrule a curved metallic bracket, J, is

placed, and is secured to the lfop of the cutting-fra1ne K, thereby connecting the handle and cutting-frame together.

L designates'a cam secured on the end of rod G, and provided with a cylindrical pin or stud, l, working in a space, m, between two uprights, M, erected upon the upper cuttingplate, N, of the shearing device. 'A circular band or roller, n, fits over the same Z, and revolves with the stud, serving not only to take what little friction` caused by the operation of the roller G, but it also enables a rapid movement of the roller without getting out of order. The cam works, or rather revolves, in a circular path between the uprights M and the extendedend of tube I. l

A slot, o, is cut out of the top plate, O, of the cutting-frame to permit the passage, laterally,

of the uprights M, and another, butsrnaller slot, p, is cut outback of the slot o, to allow the free movement of the cam as it reachesthe lower portion of its revolution. Y

Thel cutting-frame consists of a lower plate P, formed with projecting guards or fingers q, triangular incross-section, the lower surface of the ngers being rounded in an upward dire'ction near the points, while the points are Between the upper plate O and the bottom plate P is placed the upper cutting-plate, N. The plates O and P are connected together at ytheir lrear ends, andleave a space at their frontv ends, in which space .theupper cuttingplate N works laterally, said plate N not being fastened between the plates O and P,.but

simply held in place by the uprghts M. As f shown, the plate N is fornied with teeth or cutters 1', having a flat under surface fitting upon the upper surfaceof fingers q. As seen,` the two fiat faces fit together, so that a great.

rapidity ofmovement will notinterfere.with the proper-working of .the cutters, while the edges of the two flat surfaces, both the cutters and ngers, are sharpened forthe. purpose of acting inconjunction when the machine is in use. v

The operation of our invention can b readily understood from the foregoing descriptionf,

roo

taken in connectionwith-rthe annexed draw.-

ings.` -The'fiexibility of shaft F permits' the'v free movement of the cutting-instrument overlay thc body of the animal. As the drive-wheel is operated a rotary movement is imparted to Ythe shaft C, which transmits the rotary motion stud Z t0 descend on one side in the space between the uprights and ascend on the other side. This alternate rising and` falling of the stud slides the uprightsfrom one side to the other. It will be seen that the stud l projects from the cam opposite from :its connection with the rod G. The sliding of the uprights carries with it the cutting-plate N, and this Operation can be repeated at a very rapid rate of speed, causing the cutting-plate to move correspondingly. When thecam is going at a very rapid rate, the roller on the stud will be found to assist the rapid movement, since it revolves with the stud.

In place of imparting motion to the flexible shaft by means of the shaft C, connection E, bevel-wheels c d, and belt D, we may do away with the wheels c d, and simply connect the end of rod G bya belt with the driving-wheel. By means of this connection the rod will be Operated and the machine set inmotiou; buty for all practical purposes we 'prefer the construction shown, although we do not wish to be limited to the exact means shown for operating the cutting-instrument.

The upper surface and the fingers q of the plate P may be concaved, and the cuttingplate-N and top plate O may be formed to fit in this concaved surface. By this con-Y struction the middle portion of the cuttingframe will be depressed, While the ends will be slightly elevated, and this construction may prove very desirable for shearing sheep especially. The ends of the cutting-frame may also be slightly rounded, since it is olo-y vious that this form will not prove so injurious to the sides of the sheep as square ends.

It will be apparent that our device, although specially applicable'for shearing sheep, is also 45 adapted for shearing horses and. other animals, and it is obvious that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of our invention.

The device is simple and efficient, while it is not expensive, considering the vast amount of wool saved, and all danger of vinjuring the animalsbeing obviated. v

Having thus described our invention, we claiml In a shearingapparatus, the cutting-frame consisting of the lower plate, N, formed with projecting guards or ngers, the t'op plate, 0,

connected tothe bottom plate'at the rear, and the cutting-plate formcdwith uprights M,pr0 jcting upwardly from the same through a slot in the top plate, said cutting-plate working between the two plates N O,in a recess cut from the v bottom plate, in combination with the handle I H, secured to the cutting-frame bya bracket plate, J, a tube, I, secured centrally in the handle, and being extended, as at z', a rod, G,

working in the tube, and formed with a cam at the outer end, a cylindrical stud on said cam carrying a band or roller, a, and means for 7o operating the rod G, whereby the band works.

between theuprights M, and the cam revolves in a circular path between the uprights and the extended end z' of tube I, all arranged and operatingr for the purposes set forth. t

' In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto aiixed our signatures in presence of two Witnesses.

EZEA D. BENSON.

Witnesses:

SCOTT T. JoNEs, f S. B. LEE.

JAMES `D. BENSON. 

